Talented photographer and astronomer Wil from Wil Photography offers stargazing experiences and astrophotography tuition across the North of England. Wil runs the Twice Brewed Observatory near Hexham, where he shares his passion for the night skies with enthusiastic guests. In addition, Wil is a professional aurora-chaser and organises regular trips to Iceland.
Follow Wil on Facebook, see his website Wil Photography or contact him via email [email protected].
Wil’s telescope recommendations
Buying your first telescope can be daunting; however, you can’t go wrong with these suggestions.
Telescopes gather light; the more light they gather, the brighter the image and the more detail you will see. The larger the aperture you can afford, the better.
Of equal importance is a sturdy mount that can hold your telescope still while observing but is also moveable so you can quickly point at different objects.
These considerations make a Dobsonian telescope the best beginner telescope; they are easy to use and offer excellent value for money.
As for where to purchase a telescope, Wil recommends buying from an independent retailer, where you will get all the support you need, rather than an online store.
Beginners scopes under £150
3″ aperture Sky-Watcher Heritage mini tabletop Dobsonian
An entry-level beginners telescope ideal for young astronomers up to the age of 10.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
4″ aperture StellaLyra table-top Dobsonian telescope
Ideal for younger astronomers aged 6 to 12, these table-top Dobsonian telescopes are highly portable and ideal for taking on any stargazing adventure.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Beginners scope under £350
6″ aperture Sky-Watcher Dobsonian telescope
This 6″ Dobsonian telescope combines good light gathering with portability.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Beginners scopes under £500
8″ aperture StellaLyra Dobsonian telescope
This Dobsonian telescope combines the excellent light-gathering power of its 8″ primary mirror with a sturdy base and quality accessories.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
5″ aperture Sky-Watcher Explorer Newtonian telescope
This telescope comes with a wifi-controlled mount that points the telescope to objects of your choice and tracks them across the sky, all controlled via a mobile app.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Intermediate telescopes
5″ aperture Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT
This high-quality Maksutov-Cassegrain design telescope offers excellent views with a user friendly “SkyAlign” method of aligning the telescope so that it points to and tracks objects.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
8″ aperture Sky-Watcher Dobsonian telescope
Perhaps the best telescope for beginners, this 8″ Dobsonian telescope offers excellent light gathering and amazing views of solar system and deep sky objects.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Advanced telescopes
12″ aperture Sky-Watcher FlexTube Dobsonian telescope
With its 12″ primary mirror this Dobsonian telescope gathers lots of light resulting in better views of faint, deep-sky objects. It’s flexible tube design makes it compact and more easily portable.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Celestron NexStar 8SE
Celestron’s hugely successful 8 inch Schmid-Cassegrain design telescope made amateur astronomy accessible to the masses, it’s now available on a motorised mount and enhanced optics.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Astrophotography telescopes
Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P-DS EQ-5 PRO GOTO
This substantial setup includes a good aperture telescope with precision tracking mount, enabling you to take longer exposure photos when you replace the telescope eyepiece with a camera.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Sky-Watcher Explorer 200P-DS HEQ5 PRO
With an 8″ aperture telescope and uprated HEQ5 Pro tracking mount, this setup is ideal for anyone with a serious interest in astrophotography.
Buy this telescope from First Light Optics.
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Pack tracking mount
Capture long exposures of the night sky using a DSLR camera with this portable tracking mount. The pro-pack bundle includes everything you need when combined with your existing tripod including the mount itself, ball head adapter, polar scope, dovetail bracket, equatorial wedge and counterweight shaft (and weight).
Buy this tracking mount from First Light Optics.
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